Back in October, Senator Tim Kaine (D.Va) and 10 other Democratic Senators sent a letter to the USTR urging him to establish a product exclusion process for items covered by List 3 of the Section 301 tariffs similar to the processes already in place for products on Lists 1 and 2.

January is certainly the month for New Year’s resolutions. Anyone who has gone to his or her local gym or fitness center can certainly attest to that! But January is also a big month for New Year’s RESIGNATIONS.

This month marks the one year anniversary of the beginning of President Trump’s tariffs wars. His announcement of “safeguard” tariffs on washing machines and solar panels that were largely aimed at goods from China, turned out to be only the first round of tariffs intended to address perceived trade imbalances globally.

On December 12, 2018, Public Act 367 of 2018 was enacted, amending the Michigan Construction Lien Act, MCL 570.1101 et seq. (“CLA”), to provide design professionals (i.e. licensed or registered architects, professional engineers, or professional surveyors) with specific lien rights and procedures for creating and perfecting those lien rights for professional services provided in the event that an owner of a project or a property does not proceed with actual physical construction of a project or actual physical improvement of a property.

If you have a product covered by the 25% Section 301 tariffs imposed on Chinese goods in July of 2018 (List 1), the United States Trade Representative may have a belated holiday present for you. The newly published exclusions are available to any product that meets a description in the notice, whether or not you applied for a product exclusion in the fall of 2018.

The Michigan Legislature approved a ballot initiative on September 5, 2018, called the “Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act,” which increased the minimum wage to $10.00 per hour effective January 1, 2019, and over time, increasing the minimum wage to $12.00 per hour by January 1, 2022.

Utah has joined a growing list of states to legalize marijuana. With the addition of Utah, thirty-three (33) states plus the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for either medical or recreational purposes.

The United States Trade Representative published a formal notice in the 12/17/2018 Federal Register, “at the direction of the President”, postponing the previously announced increase in List 3 Section 301 tariffs from 10% to 25% until March 2, 2019.

On November 29, 2018, the U.S. Tax Court once again ruled that a corporation engaged in the cannabis industry was not entitled to deduct ordinary and necessary business expenses incurred in the operation of its day-to-day business operations.

As competition within the global marketplace continues to intensify, there has never been a time when protecting your company’s trade secrets has been more important. Recent legal developments underscore that point.

Despite the passage of laws in Michigan and 45 other states that have permitted or decriminalized the use of cannabis-related products for medical or recreational use or both, there remains an 800-pound gorilla known as the federal government that makes it a crime to manufacture, sell or possess marijuana.

On October 31, 2018, a jury in a Colorado federal civil action returned a verdict against a real property owner on its RICO claim against an adjacent cannabis grow operation, concluding that the plaintiff failed to prove financial loss caused from odors emitted from the defendant’s grow operation.

On November 6, 2018, Michigan voters passed a referendum which will make the recreational use and possession of marihuana legal under Michigan law. The law will take effect 10 days after the official election results are certified, which should occur sometime in early December 2018. The legalization of recreational use and possession of marihuana raises a number of practical and legal questions, but we will focus here on questions employers may have.

Yesterday, the Michigan Court of Appeals held that the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) storm water drainage fee is permissible and not a tax subject to voter approval under the Headlee Amendment.